Welcome to DOADOA | 2018

Message from the Director:

Six years down the road – DOADOA continues to grow stronger and more relevant in connecting performing artists and professionals withinEast Africa and around the world, but also directly feeding into the established East Africa Community’s common market protocol for the cultural and creative industries. As a market, DOADOA emphasises the role of performing arts in a sustainable integration of economic activity across the region that accelerates economic growth, contributes to individual well-being and cuts across to impact other sectors of development.

It is within this context that DOADOA is stepping up its efforts to be recognised by various declarations and action plans made by various member state governments and regional bodies to understand that markets such as DOADOA contribute to the development and integration of East Africa – promote mobility of artists and industry professionals; develop and opening up routes for exposure of content and access to East African citizens so as to enhance business and employment opportunities for performing artists and other professionals, thus stimulating increased trade in creative goods and services.

That is why we are very proud – as a first step – of the partnership established with the EAC Common Market IIDEA project that aims atcommunicatingand promoting the benefits of cross-border, transitional and interregional cooperation to a large and diverse group of stakeholders within the member states and many of performing arts professionals are invited and will be with us attending the 6th edition of the market.

For those that have followed this event over the past five years would witness that DOADOA’s innovation lays in the fact that it takes action at the root of the value chain, takes a bottom-up, market-driven and people-centred approach to regional integration. It is based on cooperation between industry stakeholders that have agreed to join hands and take a lead in developing and promoting the regional market for performing arts by accepting to participate and be present to network and continues knowledge and experience sharing.Therefore, DOADOA has and will continue to be highly practical and tangible in identifying new opportunities, new routes to job creation and income generation within the region in the performing arts industry.

With that said, DOADOA is still a young market. Advocating for a conducive environment, regulatory framework and effective public-private partnerships for the advancement and promotion of the performing arts in East Africa as a new chapter we are working towards as well.

We therefore invite you all, as citizens of East Africa and beyond to join us for this edition, leverage from the content shared and showcased and help us strengthen the platform further by adding your voice.